Thomas Baggio, banker and veteran from South Philadelphia

AS A REPUBLICAN, Thomas Baggio must have known he didn't have much of a chance for elective office in a Democratic city.

But he went for it anyway. He ran on the Republican ticket for the state House in the 182nd Legislative District against Babette Josephs in 1996 and lost.

"It was something he wanted to try," said his wife, the former Geraldine Evans. "He always wanted to see if he would be good at it. He worked at it, but afterward he decided politics was not for him."

Thomas C. Baggio Sr., a banker who started as a clerk and worked his way into an executive position, died Saturday of complications of heart failure. He was 69 and lived in South Philadelphia.

He was in the Army special forces during a critical period of history. He was sent to Florida in 1961 to prepare for the invasion of Cuba in an attempt to overthrow the Castro regime.

CIA-trained Cuban exiles landed in the Bay of Pigs in April 1961, but were quickly defeated by Cuban forces.

"He was on the beach waiting," his wife said. "It was very frightening to him. He thought the invasion would be a sure thing."

However, President John F. Kennedy declined to support the Cuban-exile army and the Americans never left the beach.

Less than two years later, the Cuban missile crisis had the Army and the nation on edge as the Soviet Union installed nuclear missiles in Cuba. Thomas Baggio's unit was on alert until the crisis was averted.

A couple of years later, he was dispatched to Alabama, when civil-rights marchers were set upon by police in Selma in 1965, and another crisis called for the military to stand by. This crisis, too, ended, and the marchers continued on to Montgomery, led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to demand voting rights for blacks.

After the military, Thomas started on the lower end of the ladder at Girard Bank, later Mellon. He was asked to take a management course, and worked his way up to vice president and district manager for community banking.

He worked with ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) to see about loans for community development.

Thomas retired after 35 years with the bank, then returned to Girard College, his alma mater, to become director of alumni relations.

"He enjoyed that," said his wife, who married Thomas in 1975. "He traveled all over the country to meet with alumni chapters."

He later took over the role of director of development. He retired from Girard in 2009.

Thomas Baggio was born in South Philadelphia to Charles and Anna Baggio. His father took him to his first Mummers New Years Parade when he was 1, and he later marched with the former Entertainers of the Fancy Brigade for about 10 years.

Because his father died young, he was able to attend Girard College, starting at age 8.

"He was always grateful for the education he got there," his wife said. "It gave him stability."

The reason he returned to help the school was that he felt that he wanted to repay Girard for what it made him, his wife said.

Thomas enjoyed playing golf at Franklin D. Roosevelt Park, in South Philadelphia, and traveling. He and his wife visited Italy.

"He was a fair man," his wife said. "He always stuck up for the little guy. He hated to see the little people picked on. He would go out of his way to help somebody."

Besides his wife, he is survived by two sons, Michael and Thomas Jr.; a sister, Mary Jo Baggio; a brother, George Baggio; and three grandchildren.

Services: Funeral Mass 10 a.m. tomorrow at St. Mary Magdalen De Pazzi Church, 7th and Montrose streets. Friends may call at 7 this evening and at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow at the Vincent Gangemi Funeral Home, 2232 S. Broad St. Burial will be private.